History of Oceanography Unit 5 - 1 History of Oceanography

The Phoenicians Were the first western seafaring culture from about 1200 to 146 B.C. They voyaged and traded throughout the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic to the British Islands and around Africa.

Eratosthenes He mapped the known world around 200 B.C. and calculated the circumference of the earth to within 200 km of the correct figure! Developed the system of latitude and longitude still used today Despite the myths about Columbus, people have known the earth was round for over 2000 years.

A third century B.C. chart showing the system of latitude & longitude developed by Eratosthenes. Diagrams showing the calculation of lines of latitude & longitude. © 2002 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc.

Ptolemy Egyptian/Greek scientist created the first comprehensive atlas of the known world around 150 A.D Listed more than 8,000 known places by latitude and longitude but miscalculated the circumference of the earth as 29,000 km (correct value is 40,067 km)

Voyages Of The Polynesian Peoples The Polynesian colonizations are an example of knowledge of oceans & marine science used to colonize a vast number of islands beginning before 1500 B.C. “Red Arrows” indicate the direction & order of settlement. © 2002 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc.

Vikings The Vikings, Scandinavian adventurers, used fast & stable ships to explore (and pillage) places as far away as Kiev, Constantinople, Iceland, Greenland, & Newfoundland. Leaf Ericson first discovered America in 985

Chinese Contributions Chinese navigators set out in the 1400s to explore the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, Africa & the Atlantic. Their ships were laden with gifts designed to show China’s wealth & degree of civilization. The Chinese invented: The central rudder Water-tight compartments Sails on multiple masts

The Age Of Discovery Europeans explored the world by sea during the Renaissance.  Competition between Portugal and Spain to reach the Indies led to great voyages of discovery  Christopher Columbus - Although he never saw the mainland of North America, his stories inspired other explorers to follow.  Ferdinand Magellan –Although Magellan died en route, the small surviving portion of his crew circumnavigated the globe.

Sir Isaac Newton Developed the Universal Law of Gravitation in 1687 which explained the movement of the tides

Captain James Cook  Verified calculations of planetary orbits  Mapped Hawaii, New Zealand & the Great Barrier Reef, Tonga & Easter Islands  Initiated friendly relations with many native populations  Sampled marine life, land plants & animals and recorded data about the ocean floor & geological formations

Ben Franklin: Gulf Stream noticed travel time to Europe took less time than the return collected info from many sailing ships created first chart of the Gulf Stream and improved navigation between the US and Europe.

HMS Challenger British ship 1872-1876 First true oceanographic voyage Seawater chemistry More 4700 marine organisms collected

Fridtjof Nansen Norwegian Scientist and explorer (1861-1930) Froze his specially designed round-bottom vessel Fram into polar ice to test his ideas about ice drift drifted with the polar ice for 35 months, tried but failed to reach the North Pole

USS Albatross American ship built in 1882 was the first ship built specifically for marine research Contained specialized deep sea trawling equipment that could catch as many specimens in one tow as the Challenger caught in 3 years.

The Meteor 1925-1927 German scientific and mapping expedition First use of the echo sounder (sonar) to map the sea floor Although sent for science, was also an attempt by the German government to find an affordable way to separate gold from seawater

The Bathyscaphe Trieste Reached the deepest part of the ocean (Challenger Deep) in 1960 with the Swiss scientist Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh. No one had been back since until James Cameron did it in 2012

Jacques Cousteau French Naval officer who invented SCUBA in the 1940s and led French commando expeditions during WWII Prolific explorer, author, and film maker. Traveled the word exploring aboard his ship Calypso

Robert Ballard American Oceanographer and Explorer Discovered deep ocean vents in 1977 on ALVIN Found sunk nuclear subs USS Thresher and USS Scorpion on secret mission for the Navy who financed his Titanic expedition Has found more famous deep shipwrecks than any other explorer

Sylvia Earle American oceanographer has lead more than 60 expeditions worldwide Designed and built many deep sea submersibles Former chief scientist of NOAA and current Explorer in Residence for National Geographic